#use wml::tmpl::main title="Mario Lang -- Frequently Asked Questions" PAGE=about SUBPAGE=faq

<H2>Q: How do you work with Computers if you can not see?</H2>
People tend to ask me this question rather often.  So I decided
to briefly document this here, to shed a little light on the issue.
<p>
I am using a Braille display to access the screen content on my computer.
Such a device usually consists of 40 or 80 cells, each cell being
able to display one ASCII character.  A cell consists of 8 dots,
4 down and 2 across, which can either be set (up) or not (down).  Since a cell
has 8 dots, a byte of data (8 bits) can fully be represented
in a tactile manner.
<P>
I am currently using a
<A href="$(ROOT)/hardware/braillestar40.html">HandyTech
Braille Star 40</A>, which is a very nice and ergonomic device. I love it!

<H2><A name="sms">Q: If I send you SMS messages, can you read them?</A></H2>
<P>Since several years now, I am the happy owner of a talking
GSM phone.  So the short answer is yes.  Mobile phones based
on the Symbian operating system are mostly accessible.  There is a third-party
application (<A href="http://www.talx.de/">TalX</A>) available, which
includes software speech synthesis capabilities as well as a pretty neat
screen reader for the Symbian operating system.</P>
<P>I personally use a Nokia 9500 communicator with Talx.</P>
<h2><a name="starmania">Are you the Mario Lang from Starmania, and can I have a autograph?</a></h2>
<p>In fall 2006 the austrian public TV station <a href="http://www.orf.at/">ORF</a> launched the
<a href="http://starmania.orf.at/archiv2.php">third instance</a> of their "Starmania" series.  It is basically a teen-pop-star
casting show, as it is broadcasted in many other different countries
under various names as well.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, one candidate of Starmania 3 has the same
name (first and last name) as I have.</p>
<p>Mario Lang did not win the contest (he came out forth place)
but he seems to have quite a fanclub.  As you can imagine,
I am getting a pretty huge share of his fan phone calls,
since I am listed in the phonebook, and he obviously is not.
This is extremely tedious since 99% of the callers are female and surely
younger than 14.  Kids in this age cathegory don't seem to
be able to do meaningful phone conversations, to word it very mildly.</p>
<p>So, to answer the question, no, you can't have autographs, at least not
if you expect one from the "Pop star" Mario Lang.</p>
<p>If anyone from ORF is reading this, I'd really wish
for a bit of compensation for the harrassment that I am being exposed
to.</p>